Constraint minimization method for formal verification

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a method for minimizing constraints in the formal verification of an integrated circuit design. The method may include obtaining an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design and obtaining an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints. The method may further include attempting to prove an assertion without the known constraints and determining if the assertion is valid. The method may further include updating the isolated list of constraints.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method of formal verification, and more particularly, to a method of minimizing constraints during formal verification. Although embodiments of the present disclosure may be suitable for a wide scope of applications, one or more embodiments may be configured to reduce the number of constraints required for formal verification of a semiconductor design.

BACKGROUND

In general, it may be desirable to identify errors in semiconductor design while the semiconductor is in the design phase. As production moves from design to tooling and fabrication, the cost to fix design errors increases greatly. This great increase in cost may be attributable to specialized fabrication hardware that may have to be modified to repair a design error. A very small change in design can have cascading effects to other areas of the semiconductor. If these changes are made in while the semiconductor is in the design phase, software design tools can simply modify the architecture appropriately with little ramifications. If, however, a design error is found after production has transitioned to tooling and fabrication, a design change with cascading effects could necessitate the retooling of the entire line at considerable cost.

As design errors are much less costly to remedy while the semiconductor is in the design phase, much effort has been expended into methods of ensuring proper semiconductor designs in this stage. The process of ensuring proper design is referred to as verification. Design verification is generally focused into two areas: simulation and formal verification. Simulation involves testing the design against a sample set of inputs and checking the outputs against their expected values. Formal verification involves testing the universe of possible inputs against their expected outputs.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a computer-implemented method for minimizing constraints in a formal verification of an integrated circuit. In some embodiments, the method may include obtaining, via a computing device, an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design and obtaining, via the computing device, an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints. The method may further include attempting, via the computing device, to prove an assertion without the known constraints and determining, via the computing device, if the assertion is valid. The method may also include updating the isolated list of constraints.

One or more of the following features may be included. The method may further include adding the first constraint to the isolated list to generate an updated isolated list. The method may additionally include removing the first constraint from the unisolated list. The method may also include proving the assertion with the updated isolated list. The method may further include reporting one or more of a passing or a failing assertion. The method may also include repeating the generating a counterexample of a cone of influence of the assertion, replaying the counterexample with the unisolated list and repeating the expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver. The method may additionally include identifying a second deadend, isolating a second constraint that caused the second deadend, adding the second constraint to the isolated list, removing the second constraint from the unisolated list and repeating the proving the assertion with the isolated list. The method may further include isolating additional constraints using multiple iterations of the computer-implemented method. If the assertion is not valid, the method may also include generating, via the computing device, a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion and replaying the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list. The method may further include expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver, identifying a first deadend; and isolating a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions, which when executed by a processor result in a number of operations is provided. Operations may include obtaining an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design and obtaining an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints. Operations may further include attempting to prove an assertion without the known constraints and determining if the assertion is valid. Operations may further include updating the isolated list of constraints.

One or more of the following features may be included. Operations may further include adding the first constraint to the isolated list to generate an updated isolated list. Operations may additionally include removing the first constraint from the unisolated list. Operations may also include proving the assertion with the updated isolated list. Operations may further include reporting one or more of a passing or a failing assertion. Operations may also include repeating the generating a counterexample of a cone of influence of the assertion, replaying the counterexample with the unisolated list and repeating the expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver. Operations may additionally include identifying a second deadend, isolating a second constraint that caused the second deadend, adding the second constraint to the isolated list, removing the second constraint from the unisolated list and repeating the proving the assertion with the isolated list. Operations may further include isolating additional constraints using multiple iterations of the computer-implemented method. If the assertion is not valid, operations may also include generating a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion and replaying the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list. Operations may additionally include expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver, identifying a first deadend and isolating a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend.

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure a computing system for minimizing constraints in a formal verification of an integrated circuit is provided. In some embodiments the computing system may include at least one processor, at least one memory architecture coupled with the at least one processor and a first software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the first software module is configured to obtain, via a computing device, an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design. The computing system may further include a second software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the second software module is configured to obtain, via the computing device, an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints. The computing system may further include a third software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the third software module is configured to attempt, via the computing device, to prove an assertion without the known constraints. The computing system may further include a fourth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the fourth software module is configured to determine, via the computing device, if the assertion is valid. The computing system may also include a fifth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the fifth software module is configured to, update the isolated list of constraints

One or more of the following features may be included. The computing system may further include a sixth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the sixth software module is configured to add the first constraint to the isolated list to generate an updated isolated list. The computing system may further include an seventh software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the seventh software module is configured to remove the first constraint from the unisolated list. The computing system may further include an eighth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the eighth software module is configured to prove the assertion with the updated isolated list. The computing system may further include a ninth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the ninth software module is configured to report one or more of a passing or a failing assertion. The computing system may further include a tenth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the tenth software module is configured to: repeat the generation of a counterexample of a cone of influence of the assertion, replay the counterexample with the unisolated list, and repeat the expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver. The computing system may further include a eleventh software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the eleventh software module is configured to: identify a second deadend, isolate a second constraint that caused the second deadend, add the second constraint to the isolated list, remove the second constraint from the unisolated list, and repeat the proving the assertion with the isolated list. The computing system may further include a twelfth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the twelfth software module is configured to: isolate additional constraints using multiple iterations of the computer-implemented method. The computing system may further include a thirteenth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the thirteenth software module is configured to, if the assertion is not valid, generate, via the computing device, a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion and to replay the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list. The computing system may further include a fourteenth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the fourteenth software module is configured to expand the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver. The fourteenth software module may be further configured to identify a first deadend and to isolate a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of embodiments of the present disclosure as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and together with the description serve to explain the principles of embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 diagrammatically depicts an automatic constraint minimization process coupled to a distributed computing network;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a simulation method in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a formal verification method according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is another illustration of a formal verification method according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a logical block diagram of a sixteen-bit comparator;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart of a method of performing formal verification according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart corresponding to block 220 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an exemplary flowchart corresponding to block 240 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart corresponding to the combination of blocks 220 and 240 of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 respectively;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart corresponding to the combination of FIG. 6 and FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an exemplary first iteration through the method shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an exemplary second iteration through the method shown in FIG. 10; and

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an exemplary third iteration through the method shown in FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the thicknesses of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.

System Overview

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown constraint minimization process 10 that may reside on and may be executed by server computer 12, which may be connected to network 14 (e.g., the internet or a local area network). Examples of server computer 12 may include, but are not limited to: a personal computer, a server computer, a series of server computers, a mini computer, and a mainframe computer. Server computer 12 may be a web server (or a series of servers) running a network operating system, examples of which may include but are not limited to: Microsoft Windows XP Server™; Novell Netware™; or Redhat Linux™, for example. Additionally and/or alternatively, the constraint minimization process may reside on a client electronic device, such as a personal computer, notebook computer, personal digital assistant, or the like.

As will be discussed below in greater detail, constraint minimization process 10 may be used to minimize the number of constraints required for formal verification of an integrated circuit design. In this way, the present disclosure may be used to detect a reduced list of constraints that may be functionally required to verify a particular assertion. The methods described herein may utilize a variety of techniques, including, but not limited to, constraint solving and dead-end detection.

The instruction sets and subroutines of constraint minimization process 10, which may be stored on storage device 16 coupled to server computer 12, may be executed by one or more processors (not shown) and one or more memory architectures (not shown) incorporated into server computer 12. Storage device 16 may include but is not limited to: a hard disk drive; a tape drive; an optical drive; a RAID array; a random access memory (RAM); and a read-only memory (ROM).

Server computer 12 may execute a web server application, examples of which may include but are not limited to: Microsoft IIS™, Novell Webserver™, or Apache Webserver™, that allows for HTTP (i.e., HyperText Transfer Protocol) access to server computer 12 via network 14. Network 14 may be connected to one or more secondary networks (e.g., network 18), examples of which may include but are not limited to: a local area network; a wide area network; or an intranet, for example.

Server computer 12 may execute one or more server applications (e.g., server application 20), examples of which may include but are not limited to, e.g., Lotus Domino™ Server and Microsoft Exchange™ Server. Server application 20 may interact with one or more client applications (e.g., client applications 22, 24, 26, 28) in order to execute constraint minimization process 10. Examples of client applications 22, 24, 26, 28 may include, but are not limited to, design verification tools such as those available from the assignee of the present disclosure. These applications may also be executed by server computer 12. In some embodiments, constraint minimization process 10 may be a stand-alone application that interfaces with server application 20 or may be an applet/application that is executed within server application 20.

The instruction sets and subroutines of server application 20, which may be stored on storage device 16 coupled to server computer 12, may be executed by one or more processors (not shown) and one or more memory architectures (not shown) incorporated into server computer 12.

As mentioned above, in addition/as an alternative to being a server-based application residing on server computer 12, the constraint minimization process may be a client-side application (not shown) residing on one or more client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44 (e.g., stored on storage devices 30, 32, 34, 36, respectively). As such, the constraint minimization process may be a stand-alone application that interfaces with a client application (e.g., client applications 22, 24, 26, 28), or may be an applet/application that is executed within a client application. As such, the constraint minimization process may be a client-side process, a server-side process, or a hybrid client-side/server-side process, which may be executed, in whole or in part, by server computer 12, or one or more of client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44.

The instruction sets and subroutines of client applications 22, 24, 26, 28, which may be stored on storage devices 30, 32, 34, 36 (respectively) coupled to client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44 (respectively), may be executed by one or more processors (not shown) and one or more memory architectures (not shown) incorporated into client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44 (respectively). Storage devices 30, 32, 34, 36 may include but are not limited to: hard disk drives; tape drives; optical drives; RAID arrays; random access memories (RAM); read-only memories (ROM), compact flash (CF) storage devices, secure digital (SD) storage devices, and memory stick storage devices. Examples of client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44 may include, but are not limited to, personal computer 38, laptop computer 40, personal digital assistant 42, notebook computer 44, a data-enabled, cellular telephone (not shown), and a dedicated network device (not shown), for example. Using client applications 22, 24, 26, 28, users 46, 48, 50, 52 may utilize formal analysis, testbench simulation, and/or hybrid technology features verify a particular integrated circuit design.

Users 46, 48, 50, 52 may access server application 20 directly through the device on which the client application (e.g., client applications 22, 24, 26, 28) is executed, namely client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44, for example. Users 46, 48, 50, 52 may access server application 20 directly through network 14 or through secondary network 18. Further, server computer 12 (e.g., the computer that executes server application 20) may be connected to network 14 through secondary network 18, as illustrated with phantom link line 54.

The various client electronic devices may be directly or indirectly coupled to network 14 (or network 18). For example, personal computer 38 is shown directly coupled to network 14 via a hardwired network connection. Further, notebook computer 44 is shown directly coupled to network 18 via a hardwired network connection. Laptop computer 40 is shown wirelessly coupled to network 14 via wireless communication channel 56 established between laptop computer 40 and wireless access point (i.e., WAP) 58, which is shown directly coupled to network 14. WAP 58 may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, Wi-Fi, and/or Bluetooth device that is capable of establishing wireless communication channel 56 between laptop computer 40 and WAP 58. Personal digital assistant 42 is shown wirelessly coupled to network 14 via wireless communication channel 60 established between personal digital assistant 42 and cellular network/bridge 62, which is shown directly coupled to network 14.

As is known in the art, all of the IEEE 802.11x specifications may use Ethernet protocol and carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) for path sharing. The various 802.11x specifications may use phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation or complementary code keying (CCK) modulation, for example. As is known in the art, Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that allows e.g., mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants to be interconnected using a short-range wireless connection.

Client electronic devices 38, 40, 42, 44 may each execute an operating system, examples of which may include but are not limited to Microsoft Windows™, Microsoft Windows CE™, Redhat Linux™, or a custom operating system.

Constraint Minimization Process

The term “constraint” as used herein, may refer to a condition that may limit the set of behaviors to be considered. A constraint may represent real requirements (e.g., clocking requirements) on the environment in which the design is used, or it may represent artificial limitations (e.g. mode settings) imposed in order to partition the verification task.

The term “assertion” as used herein, may refer to a statement that a given property is required to hold and/or a directive to verification tools to verify that it does hold.

The term “design” as used herein, may refer to a model of a piece of hardware, which may be described in a hardware description language. A design may typically involve a collection of inputs, outputs, state elements, and combinational functions that compute next state and outputs from current state and outputs.

For illustrative purposes client application 22 will be discussed. However, this should not be construed as a limitation of the present disclosure, as other client applications (e.g., client applications 24, 26, 28) may be equally utilized.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a simulation method in accordance with the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 2, a simulation verification method 100 may need to be tested over a universe 101 of possible test points. Testing of the simulation verification method 100 may be performed on a particular area of the universe 101, for example the cross-hatched area 102. A portion of the universe 101 may be left untested, for example the untested area 103.

In simulation 100, only small portions 102 of the universe 101 may be tested. These small tested portions 102 may represent exemplary inputs to test particular functionality of a device under verification. Simulation may often be a desirable method of verification as it may be comparatively less time intensive than formal verification. However, simulation leaves certain portions of the universe 101 untested 103.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a formal verification method according to the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 3, a formal verification method 110 may be applied to a universe 111 of possible test points. As shown in FIG. 3, the tested portion 112 depicted by the crossed hatched area represents the entire universe 111 of possible test points.

In formal verification 110, all portions 112 of the universe 111 may be tested. If a device passes formal verification it is proven to conform to the specification. Generally, no areas are left untested. Formal verification is often a desirable method of verification as the result is mathematical certainty that a design conforms to the specification. However, formal verification may often take much longer than simulation and can result in testing of invalid input combinations that can cause erroneous behavior. For example, the formal verification of an adder having two eight-bit inputs and an eight-bit output would produce erroneous results in the case of an overflow. However, if this adder were implemented in a device constrained such that the inputs never exceeded seven bits, this problem would not occur.

Formal verification may include both design style and capacity limitations. In terms of design styles, formal verification generally may only handle the synthesizable subset of hardware description languages (HDL). Simulation on the other hand can handle both synthesizable and non-synthesizable constructs. Formal verification may also have severe capacity limitations. As formal verification is an exhaustive procedure, it is typically limited to block-level design verification. Simulation may be better suited for arbitrary large chip and system on chip designs.

FIG. 4 is another illustration of a formal verification method according to the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, a design may be subjected to formal verification over a broad range of inputs 122 within the universe 121. Small areas 123 are left untested. The untested areas 123 could represent impossible combinations of inputs for which there is no need to test or invalid inputs which cause erroneous behavior in the design under test.

For example, on a ten-button device where each button is sequentially encoded with a four-bit number, an impossible input would be a four-bit encoding for which no button exists. Given that it is likely the designers did not consider this impossible contingency, such an input could cause non-deterministic behavior and possibly lead to an error state or a dead end.

The term “dead end” as used herein, may refer to a state for which there is no solution for the inputs. In this particular case, while formal verification would be possible for a theoretical button eleven, it would be unnecessary to do so. Such a restriction upon the range of inputs during formal verification is called a constraint. Constraints can also be placed on the outputs as well as internal nets.

Referring again to FIG. 4, the area 123 can represent an area defined by a set of constraints. Formal verification may then be performed over area 122. However, the area 123 may represent limitations defined by many constraints, some of which may be unnecessary for the successful formal verification of the design. It is possible that some constraints that define the area 123 could be removed, thereby expanding the area defined by 122. If formal verification of the design passes over an expanded area 122, then formal verification could be expected to pass over the original area 122 and the removed constraint was unnecessary. Removing the unnecessary constraints may reduce the processing time required to ensure the remaining constraints are not violated and may reduce the time to complete formal verification.

One method of formal verification is assertion based verification (ABV). In ABV, a design can be verified by proving that a certain set of assertions is always true. In the example of the eight-bit adder described above, an assertion that verifies the proper function of the adder might specify that the most significant bit of either input is never ONE. If this assertion holds true through formal verification, it can be assured that an overflow condition at output of the adder will not occur. At this point it should be possible to see that it is unlikely that the adder will pass formal verification as the adder has two eight-bit inputs and nothing apparent to limit the inputs to seven-bit numbers. Accordingly, some set of constraints which limits the input to the adder is necessary so that the assertion is not activated.

Referring now to FIG. 5 a logical block diagram of a sixteen-bit comparator is provided. As shown in FIG. 5 a sixteen-bit comparator 140 may include a first sixteen-bit input 150, a second sixteen-bit input 160, and three outputs 170, 180, and 190 indicating equal to, less than, or greater than, respectively.

When the first input 150 is equal to the second input 160, the output 170 may be HIGH and outputs 180 and 190 may be LOW. When the first input 150 is less than the second input 160, the output 180 may be HIGH and the remaining outputs 170 and 190 may be LOW. When the first input 150 is greater than the second input 160, the output 190 may be HIGH and the remaining outputs 170 and 180 may be LOW.

To fully verify the sixteen-bit comparator shown in FIG. 5 through exhaustive simulation, every possible combination of sixteen-bit input vectors would need to be tested. If each combination could be tested in one microsecond, and there are 2¹⁶*2¹⁶ combinations, exhaustive simulation for this simple component could take over an hour. In modern 32-bit and 64-bit systems the time complexity to exhaustively verify a component increases exponentially to thousands of years. Using an assertion, the same verification could be completed in less than a minute.

Constraints for formal verification may be chosen using structural cone of influence analysis of the assertion and the constraints. The phrase “cone of influence” as used herein, may refer to all of the nets that are part of the transitive fanin traversal of the net. In other words, by performing the transitive fanin transversal the cone of influence may be obtained. For example, if a net “out=a & b” then “a” and “b” may be in the cone of influence of “out”. In order to identify the cone of influence of an assertion or constraint, obtain the nets on which the assertion or the constraint is written and perform transitive fanin traversal of those nets. All of the nets that are part of this traversal are considered as in the cone of influence of the nets. A constraint is considered important to an assertion if the cone of influence of the constraint intersects with the cones of influence of the assertion. A list of necessary constraints can be obtained by iterating over the list of constraints and finding overlap between their respective cones of influence.

The problem with existing structural cone of influence analysis is that even a small intersection of nets results in picking up the constraint. For example, clock or reset nets are common in almost all the constraints and assertions. In these cases all the constraints may be picked up for verification of the assertion. This limitation can be avoided by marking the clock and reset nets as “ignore” nets. An ignore net means that a constraint may not be identified if the only net intersecting the cones of influence of the assertion is the ignore net. The ignore technique can work effectively if extra constraints are picked up because of a global net such as clock or reset.

In practical examples, there may be situations where extra constraints are picked up because of a local internal net in the design. Such an example is the case of a power shutoff where one clock domain deliberately shuts off another clock domain. In this case, an ignore technique does not work. Additionally, the ignore approach sometimes results in false positives where necessary constraints are not added because nets were marked as ignore. Further, this technique has not been shown to significantly reduce the number of constraints.

ABV has capacity and performance limitations because of the set of constraints. Designs that use ABV may have constraints on inputs, outputs and internal nets. A large set of constraints can add significant complexity to the task of formal verification. The modeling of constraints can require auxiliary code to be written which can include a large portion of the device under test in the cone of influence of the assertion being verified. This in turn may increase the complexity of the verification.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an exemplary flowchart of a method of performing formal verification according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is provided. As shown in FIG. 6, a method of performing formal verification may include attempting 210 to prove an assertion 200 without a list of constraints 205, determining 215 if the assertion passed or is valid, updating 220 a list of isolated constraints 206, and reproving 260 the assertion with the isolated constraint list 206. It should be appreciated that the list of constraints 205 are unisolated and, the unisolated list of constraints may initially comprise all of the known constraints for the integrated circuit design. The isolated list of constraints may be updated during execution of the methods described herein.

As discussed above, an exemplary method of the present disclosure may begin by attempting 210 to prove an assertion 200 without any constraints 205. If the assertion 205 passes at 215, then no constraints 205 may be necessary and the assertion 200 being verified may be reported 265 as a “pass” without constraints. If, however, the assertion 200 fails at 215, a constraint from the constraint list 205 may be added 220 to the isolated constraint list 206. An attempt to reprove 260 the assertion 200 may then be performed, in this particular example, with the list of isolated constraints 206. The sequence of reproving 260, and updating 220 the list of isolated constraints 206 may continue until a combination of constraints is obtained, which allows the assertion to pass. If the assertion passes, a “pass” may be reported 265 along with the list of isolated constraints 206 required for the assertion to pass.

Referring now to FIG. 7 an exemplary flowchart corresponding to block 220 of FIG. 6 is provided. FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, depict an exemplary method of updating 220 the list of isolated constraints 206 in further detail. Updating 220 may include obtaining 225 the counterexample of the cone of influence of the assertion, replaying 230 the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list (e.g., with remaining constraints 205 enabled), isolating 240 constraints from the list of constraints 205, and adding 250 the isolated constraints to the list of isolated constraints 206. The term “counterexample” as used herein, may refer to an example used to disprove a particular statement. In some embodiments, constraints isolated on previous iterations of the method may not enabled when replaying 230 the counterexample. However, it should be noted that when replaying the counterexample, one or more of the isolated or unisolated list may be utilized.

After updating 220 the list of isolated constraints 206, the assertion 200 may be proved again 260, this time with the list of isolated constraints 206. On each pass through logical block 220, one or more constraints may be added 250 to the list of isolated constraints 206. If the assertion passes, a “pass” may be reported along with the list of isolated constraints 206.

In some embodiments, the constraints may be used to define the design environment. These may be the same Portable Specification Language (PSL), SystemVerilog Assertions (SVA), and Open Verification Libarary (OVL) constraints that may be used to describe the environment in a particular application. Embodiments of the present disclosure may utilize a constraint solver to perform various operations. In this way, the constraint solver may use the combinational or sequential PSL, SVA, and OVL constraints as inputs and may generate simulation traces that meet those constraints. If there is a conflict between constraints during trace generation, then the simulation may reach a dead-end state and may not continue. Generally, constraints are functions over state and input variables of the design. In certain hybrid technologies, constraints may be used to define the design environment and may be solved by the constraint solver. For example, consider a case in which a constraint solver could not generate a solution for the simulation to take place. This may happen due to a conflict between constraints or between constraints and the design. In this case, the simulation may not continue from the existing state, which implies that the simulator has reached a dead-end state. There may be no possible next states in the design due to a conflict between the current design state, pin, or property constraints. In this way, deadend isolation techniques may be used to detect the constraints that are causing the conflict.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an exemplary flowchart corresponding to block 240 of FIG. 7 is provided. Isolating 240 constraints may include expanding 241 the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver and determining 242 if there are any deadends. If no deadends are found the verification is stopped and “fail” may be reported 244 along with any isolated constraints. If a deadend is found, the constraints responsible for the deadend may be isolated 243 and added 250 to the list of isolated constraints (as shown in FIGS. 7-9).

If no deadends are found at 242, then the current set of remaining constraints could not be applied to cause the assertion to pass. In this case, a “fail” may be reported 244 along with any constraints that have been isolated on previous iterations of the method. This failure may be reported to the user so that he/she may debug the design and find the underlying cause of the assertion failure.

Referring now to FIG. 9, an exemplary flowchart for the combination of blocks 220 and 240 of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 is provided. Updating 220 a list of isolated constraints according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include obtaining 225 the counterexample of the cone of influence of the assertion, replaying 230 the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list (e.g., replaying the counterexample with all remaining constraints enabled), isolating constraint(s) 240, and adding 250 the isolated constraint(s) to the list of isolated constraints. Isolating the constraint(s) 240 may further include expanding 241 the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver, determining 242 if there are deadends, and isolating 243 the constraint responsible for the deadend. If no deadends are found, the verification may be stopped and a “fail” may be reported 244 along with the list of isolated constraints.

Referring now to FIG. 10 an exemplary flowchart depicting the combination of FIG. 6 and FIG. 9 is provided. As shown in FIG. 10, an attempt to prove an assertion 200 may be made initially with a list of constraints 205. If the assertion passes at 215, a “pass” may be reported 265. If the assertion fails at 215, the counterexample of the cone of influence of the assertion may be obtained 225. The counterexample may then be replayed 230 with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list (e.g., with all constraints 205 enabled). In some embodiments, the cone of influence of the counterexample may be expanded 241 using a constraint solver. If no deadends are found at 242, the verification may be stopped and a “fail” may be reported 244 along with any constraints isolated on previous iterations of the method. If a deadend is found at 242, the constraint responsible for causing the deadend may be isolated 243 and added 250 to the list of isolated constraints 206. The assertion 200, may then be proven again 260, this time with the list of isolated constraints 206. The method may then begin a subsequent iteration by determining 215 if the assertion is passing with the list of isolated constraints.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a flowchart showing an exemplary first iteration through the method of FIG. 10 is provided. As shown in FIG. 11, a first iteration through the method of FIG. 10 may include attempting to prove an assertion without constraints 310 a, an assertion failure 315 a, replaying the counterexample with all unisolated constraints 330 a, identifying a constraint as responsible for a deadend 340 a, and adding that constraint to a list of isolated constraints 350 a. Lists 206 a, 205, 206 b, and 207 a of isolated and remaining constraints are maintained on the right for reference.

The assertion may be initially proven 310 a without constraints. Attempting to prove assertions without constraints may increase the efficiency of formal verification as significant processor time may be required to effectively enforce constraints throughout formal verification. However, in this example, the assertion has failed 315 a. The circumstances leading to the assertion failure (the counterexample) may be replayed 330 a with all constraints 205 enabled. The cone of influence of the counterexample may be expanded using a constraint solver until a constraint which causes a deadend is found. In this example, constraint C3 may be identified as being responsible for the deadend 340 a. If no deadend causing constraint can be identified, then there may be no set of constraints which may cause the assertion to pass and the formal verification fails. Constraint C3 may then be added 350 a to the list of isolated constraints 206 b and removed from the list of remaining constraints 207 a in preparation for the next iteration of the method.

Referring now to FIG. 12 a flowchart showing an exemplary second iteration through the method of FIG. 11 is provided. As shown in FIG. 12, a second iteration through the method of FIG. 10 may include attempting to reprove the assertion with the isolated constraint list 360 b, an assertion failure 315 b, replaying the counterexample with all unisolated constraints 330 b, identifying a second constraint as responsible for a deadend 340 b, and adding that constraint to a list of isolated constraints 350 b. Lists 206 c, 207 b, 206 d, and 207 c of isolated and remaining constraints are maintained on the right for reference.

At the beginning of the second iteration, the assertion may be proven 360 b with the list of isolated constraints 206 c. At this point, the list of isolated constraints may 206 c contain only a single constraint, C3. However, even with constraint C3, the assertion fails 315 b. The counterexample may be replayed 330 b with all remaining constraints C1, C2, and C4 207 b enabled. The cone of influence of the counterexample may be expanded using a constraint solver until a constraint which causes a deadend is found. In this second iteration, constraint C4 may be identified as being responsible for the deadend 340 b. Constraint C4 may then be added 350 b to the list of isolated constraints 206 d and removed from the list of remaining constraints 207 c in preparation for the next iteration of the method.

Referring now to FIG. 13 a flowchart showing an exemplary third iteration through the method shown in FIG. 10 is provided. As shown in FIG. 13, a third iteration through the method of FIG. 10 may include attempting to reprove 360 c the assertion with the isolated constraints 206 e, an assertion pass 315 c, and reporting the pass 365 c and isolated constraints 206 e. Lists 206 e and 207 d of isolated and remaining constraints are maintained on the right for reference.

At the beginning of the third iteration, the assertion may be proven 360 c with the list of isolated constraints 206 e. At this point, the list of isolated constraints 206 e may contain both C3 and C4. In this example, the assertion may pass 315 c when both isolated constraints 206 e C3 and C4 are enabled. The result of the formal verification may be reported 365 c along with the isolated constraints 206 e. It should be noted that while this example shows three iterations, various numbers of iterations may be necessary in order to perform the methods of the present disclosure.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the constraint minimization scheme for formal verification of embodiments of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that embodiments of the present disclosure cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A computer-implemented method for minimizing constraints in a formal verification of an integrated circuit comprising: obtaining, via a computing device, an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design; obtaining, via the computing device, an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints; attempting, via the computing device, to prove an assertion without the known constraints; determining, via the computing device, if the assertion is valid; and updating the isolated list of constraints.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising: adding the first constraint to the isolated list to generate an updated isolated list.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising: removing the first constraint from the unisolated list.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 further comprising: proving the assertion with the updated isolated list.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 further comprising: reporting one or more of a passing or a failing assertion.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 further comprising: repeating the generating a counterexample of a cone of influence of the assertion; replaying the counterexample with the unisolated list; and repeating the expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising: isolating additional constraints using multiple iterations of the computer-implemented method.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein updating further comprises: if the assertion is not valid, generating, via the computing device, a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion; and replaying the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein updating further comprises: expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver; identifying a first deadend; and isolating a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend.
 10. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions, which when executed by a processor result in the following operations: obtaining an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design; obtaining an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints; attempting to prove an assertion without the known constraints; determining if the assertion is valid; if the assertion is not valid, generating a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion; replaying the counterexample with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list; expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver; identifying a first deadend; and isolating a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend.
 11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein operations further comprise: adding the first constraint to the isolated list to generate an updated isolated list.
 12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 wherein operations further comprise: removing the first constraint from the unisolated list.
 13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein operations further comprise: proving the assertion with the updated isolated list.
 14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein operations further comprise: reporting one or more of a passing or a failing assertion.
 15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein operations further comprise: repeating the generating a counterexample of a cone of influence of the assertion; replaying the counterexample with the unisolated list; and repeating the expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver.
 16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein operations further comprise: identifying a second deadend; isolating a second constraint that caused the second deadend; adding the second constraint to the isolated list; removing the second constraint from the unisolated list; and repeating the proving the assertion with the isolated list.
 17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein operations further comprise: isolating additional constraints using multiple iterations of the computer-implemented method.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein updating operations further comprise: if the assertion is not valid, generating, via the computing device, a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion; and replaying the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list.
 19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein updating operations further comprise: expanding the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver; identifying a first deadend; and isolating a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend.
 20. A computing system for minimizing constraints in a formal verification of an integrated circuit comprising: at least one processor; at least one memory architecture coupled with the at least one processor; a first software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the first software module is configured to obtain, via a computing device, an unisolated list of constraints initially comprising all known constraints for the integrated circuit design; a second software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the second software module is configured to obtain, via the computing device, an isolated list of constraints initially comprising none of the known constraints; a third software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the third software module is configured to attempt, via the computing device, to prove an assertion without the known constraints; a fourth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the fourth software module is configured to determine, via the computing device, if the assertion is valid; and a fifth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the fifth software module is configured to, update the isolated list of constraints.
 21. The computing system of claim 20 further comprising: a sixth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the sixth software module is configured to add the first constraint to the isolated list to generate an updated isolated list.
 22. The computing system of claim 21 further comprising: a seventh software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the seventh software module is configured to remove the first constraint from the unisolated list.
 23. The computing system of claim 22 further comprising: an eighth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the eighth software module is configured to prove the assertion with the updated isolated list.
 24. The computing system of claim 23 further comprising: a ninth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the ninth software module is configured to report one or more of a passing or a failing assertion.
 25. The computing system of claim 23 further comprising: a tenth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the tenth software module is configured to: repeat the generation of a counterexample of a cone of influence of the assertion; replay the counterexample with the unisolated list; and repeat the expanding of the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver.
 26. The computing system of claim 20 further comprising: a twelfth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the twelfth software module is configured to: isolate additional constraints using multiple iterations of the computer-implemented method.
 27. The computing system of claim 20 wherein updating further comprises: a thirteenth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the thirteenth software module is configured to: if the assertion is not valid, generate, via the computing device, a counterexample of a cone of influence associated with the assertion; and replay the counterexample with at least one constraint associated with at least one of the isolated list and the unisolated list.
 28. The computing system of claim 27 wherein updating further comprises: a fourteenth software module executed by the at least one processor, wherein the fourteenth software module is configured to: expand the cone of influence of the counterexample using a constraint solver; identify a first deadend; and isolate a first constraint in the unisolated list that caused the first deadend. 